News In NYC, front doors are for rich people only

That’s right: So-called “poor doors” (or separate entrances for poor people, usually located in the back of the building, out of view from the upper-class tenants) are increasingly common among New York’s swanky residential buildings that house the super-rich alongside a handful of low-income people in order to get tax credits from the city.

Last week, the New York Department of Housing Preservation and Development approved a request by a swanky new condo on the Upper West Side to have a separate entrance in a back alley for its lower income residents (in New York City that means people with an annual income of $51,540 or less).

The front doors, meanwhile, will be reserved for wealthy tenants only.

Apparently in New York City, people who dare commit the cardinal sin of making less than 50k a year are now relegated to going in their own homes through the alleyways. Sickening if you ask me, just sickening.

Long ago I had friends who lived in a gated community. After spending time there, I quickly realized the gates would not make me feel safer. Rather, they would make me feel penned in with a slice of society I do *not* want to spend much time with.

But is it privately owned? Because as a patriotic American, anything that would get me frothing at the mouth, ranting about the government taking my freedoms is A-ok if you insert that one word. This just seems like the job creators giving more jobs to the door creators to me.

The article doesn't make clear whether the "poor door" restriction applies to all tenants earning below a threshold (which may include elderly people who bought generations ago, and who might well be better off than the new "rich" tenants if they own their units outright without a mortgage), or only those who are receiving government-subsidized housing. If the latter, I guess beggars can't be choosers.

I might be exaggerating somewhat when I say that, but when you're told that you can't use the main door, you have to use a back door in an alley, it at the very least smacks of second-class citizenship. Or... residentship.

Staff: Mentor

The article doesn't make clear whether the "poor door" restriction applies to all tenants earning below a threshold (which may include elderly people who bought generations ago

These are recently-built or about-to-be-built buildings. It looks like in effect, they're designed as two separate buildings abutting each other, with separate entrances and no shared common areas (lobbies, corridors, pools, exercise rooms, etc.)

From the TIME reference given above (actually Money magazine):

“No one ever said that the goal was full integration of these populations,” said David Von Spreckelsen, senior vice president at Toll Brothers [a builder of luxury homes and apartment buildings]. “So now you have politicians talking about that, saying how horrible those back doors are. I think it’s unfair to expect very high-income homeowners who paid a fortune to live in their building to have to be in the same boat as low-income renters, who are very fortunate to live in a new building in a great neighborhood.”

Yes, any source is better than yahoo, and those sources make it more clear that, like I said, this is a singular event - not a widespread trend.

The above quote says it all really. A big part of the reason why people pay to live in those ridiculous buildings is because they want exclusivity - they want to feel part of an elite community, and don't want to let others in. Childish, irrational, petty? Sure, but the building managers are just giving their tenants what they're paying for.

Also, if you look at the property on Google maps (40 Riverside blvd), it takes up an entire short block and doesn't have a "back alley".

Hard to say, really - Google maps isn't reliable with addresses. And in most big cities the buildings run right up against each other. Where does one address end, and the other start? It's hard to tell.

But you're right, there is no alley - that was hyperbole in the article. Alleys would take up too much valuable real estate in that part of town. There is a courtyard though, I bet that's where the secondary entrance is.

(in New York City that means people with an annual income of $51,540 or less).

I remember one of my family members was making 50k a year, and my parents talked about her like if I stayed in school, I could one day make that much.
Now, after finding out first hand about the cost of living in some cities, it seems like if you're not making 50k a year, you're living in squalor.

I make 20k a year, work part time, go to school, have a car, my own place, go on about two trips a year, and I pay for everything myself. But, alas, I can't say I live in NYC, which is a huge part of living there, right?

How can they possibly enforce the rule that "if you earn less than XXX you may not use this entrance"? What are they going to do, run a background check on you every time you enter the building to see if your new annual salary is high enough?

It seems to me the only reasonable way is to designate which areas you are allowed in depending on which condo you bought. If you bought a cheap condo, you go to the cheap condo areas, if you bought an expensive condo you go to the expensive areas.

In this case...how is this any worse than having a rich and a poor side of town or an expensive or cheap condo complex?

How can they possibly enforce the rule that "if you earn less than XXX you may not use this entrance"? What are they going to do, run a background check on you every time you enter the building to see if your new annual salary is high enough?

I don't think they restrict doors by income. The units that are available to low-income people have income restrictions, and those units are not accessible through the front door. So if you're low income, you can come through the front door -- you just can't get to your home that way.

I wonder what happens if you buy a low-income unit, and then get a raise?

And at Disney World, you can pay extra to get your own special, shorter lines. Oh, the horror.

Heh, I've even heard dark whispers about how some fat cats pay (a lot) extra for special airline seats, which are much more comfortable, have more room, and attract better cabin service, plus use of exclusive airport lounges, etc. :uhh:

I don't think they restrict doors by income. The units that are available to low-income people have income restrictions, and those units are not accessible through the front door. So if you're low income, you can come through the front door -- you just can't get to your home that way.